rocates his passion up to almost the last
page in the book, when, having come to the edge of the precipice and
made every preparation for her leap into the gulf of elopement, she does
a mental quick-change and walks away as the contented betrothed of
Another. So _Hargrave_, making the best of a good job, rejoins _Mrs.
H._; and one may suppose that, if any more distressed damsels fall off
omnibuses in his presence, he will prudently "let be." You may think
with me that this abrupt finish lessens the effect of an otherwise
well-written and entertaining story.

* * * * *

Miss MURIEL HINE in _The Individual_ (LANE), essaying a problem novel,
does not disdain the old-fashioned way of the woven plot and the
dramatic incident. Her hero, _Orde Taverner_, surgeon by trade and
eugenist by profession, falls in love with _Elizma_, a Cornish beauty
and rare fiddler. His inquiries as to her eugenical fitness having been
answered satisfactorily but inaccurately, he marries, to find that
_Elizma's_ mother really died insane. His principles conquer his desire
for children, and his decision is communicated to the fiery _Elizma_,
who, fierce maternalist that she is and coming of a wild stock that
never stuck at anything, undertakes a desperate flirtation by way of
solving the difficulty in her own heroic way--at least you will
certainly make this kind of a guess, but on investigation you may find
that you've been wrong! Happily in the end a deathbed confession proves
the second version of her birth as inaccurate as the first. She really
comes of quite untainted stock, so the eugenist is satisfied and husband
and wife reconciled. That is to say the author runs away from her
problem, which was perhaps, all things considered, the wisest thing to
do. She has some eye for character and has made a good thing of her
_Elizma_, but has let herself scatter her energies over a team too large
to be driven with a sure hand. And why, oh why did she drag in the War?
Or call her butler _Puffles_? But she keeps the interest of her story
going, and you mustn't skip or you may be set off on a hopelessly wrong
tack.

* * * * *

So great is my admiration for the humorous gifts of Mr. WILLIAM CAINE
and so strong my gratitude to him for such books as _Boom_ and _Old
Enough to Know Better_, that I have decided to erase from my memory with
all possible speed his latest effort, _Bildad the Quill-Dr